Pangur Bán

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the poem by an 8th-century Irish monk about his cat. For the Irish rebel band, see Pangur Bán (band).

Pangur Bán is an Old Irish poem , written around AD 800 by an anonymous Irish monk about his cat. Pangur Bán "white waulker" is the cat's name. In 8 verses of four lines, the author compares the cat's activities with his own scholarly pursuits.

The poem is preserved in the Reichenau Primer (Stift St. Paul Cod. 86b/1 fol 1v) and now kept in St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal, written in the 8th century in the area of the Reichenau abbey.

The most famous of the many English translations is that by Robin Flower. In W. H. Auden's translation, the poem was set by Samuel Barber as the eighth of his ten Hermit Songs (1952-3).

[edit] References

Hildegard L.C. Tristram, 'Die irischen Gedichte im Reichenauer Schulheft', in: Anreiter & Jerem (eds.), Studia Celtica et Indogermanica. Festschrift für Wolfgang Meid zum 70. Geburtstag, Budapest: Archaeolingua 503–529 (1999).